The agronomic performance of plants has typically been improved by either classical plant breeding or genetic engineering. Classical breeding typically results in the transfer of unknown nucleic acids from one plant to another. Genetic engineering techniques introduce foreign nucleic acids into the plant genome, i.e., DNA that is not from a plant or that is not from a plant that is naturally interfertile with the plant to be modified by genetic engineering. For example, genetic engineering introduces non-plant nucleic acids into a plant genome. Both classical breeding and genetic engineering strategies create plant genomes that contain undesirable and unwanted genetic material, and the resultant cross-bred or transgenic plants can exhibit unfavorable traits. The inadequacies of both strategies can prove harmful to the transgenic plants, as well as to the animals and humans who consume such products.